It's not Christmas without that last minute project

Christmas knitting planning goes something like this.  Mid-year the knitter decides what and whom are getting Christmas knits.  One or two of these are knit during the warm months in a fit of responsibility. Time passes and the knitter pares this list down thinking that certain people didn't really seem enthused about their knitted gift last year.  Maybe a gift card would actually be better.  November comes and the knitter is not in the mood to start another Christmas project and decides that Christmas knitting is done for the year. All is well until mid December when a twinge of guilt appears as all the presents are laid out for wrapping.  The knitter looks at the calendar and says, "Oh no! 10 days till Christmas!!! What can I knit that fast!!!!!"

I really thought that this year there would be no last minute gift knit.  Then last weekend while boxing up my mother's gift, the guilty twinge did show up.  My original plan had been to knit two pairs of socks, one black and one gray, butttttt those colors are really boring to knit. So I'd decided a few months ago that one black pair was enough knitted goodness.  

Then late October my mother's appendix burst inside of her.  It took about two days for the doctors to even figure this out because quote "She looked too healthy to have a burst appendix."  My mother even said when she was admitted, "My side really hurts.  Do you think my appendix must have burst?" and they told her, "No."  At least the doctors figured she had some sort of infection and put her on antibiotics right away.   Long story short is that my mother had to have a surgery at the beginning of this month to "clean everything up," but will be fine once she heals from that.  She plans to be back to work in the new year.

So when this twinge of guilt appeared I decided to take one of those special skeins. You know the ones you don't want to knit because you like to stare at them in the stash, in my case it was Platinum in discontinued Funky Carolina Merino/Tencel.  This yarn probably should have been knit in a complicated stitch but there was no time.  I cast on a speedy sock pattern, another pair of Slippery socks.  Now when my mother opens her Christmas present she will have two pairs of socks, one black, one gray and a big fat does of knitterly love.